The Mets expect to sell 10 minority shares of the team by the end of February, a person familiar with the process said Monday. The units, priced at $20 million each, would raise $200 million for the cash-strapped franchise and be used to pay existing loans and operating expenses for 2012.

It previously was believed that the Mets would close on a minimum of four units by the end of January. No reason was given for the new timetable or whether the closings would take place at the same time. None of the potential investors has been revealed. Major League Baseball has been involved in vetting the partial owners.

Earlier this month, principal owner Fred Wilpon expressed optimism about the process, but the Mets Monday had no comment on when the new investors will be in place.

Initial proceeds of the sales, those involved in the transaction have said, are earmarked to pay a $25-million loan the Mets obtained from MLB in November 2010 and a $40-million bridge loan from the Bank of America in the last quarter of 2011. The concept of selling up to 40 percent in smaller shares came after negotiations with hedge fund manager David Einhorn broke down last September over control issues.

General manager Sandy Alderson said the team lost $70 million in the 2011 season. It recently hired CRG Partners, a bankruptcy and financial turnaround consulting firm, to assist in fiscal matters. The team has said it will not seek bankruptcy proceedings.

At this point, the Mets should just have a Lotto thing…sell 400,000 chances at $500 each and then pull a winning ticket from the bunch. If your ticket comes up, then you own 40% of the team. It may be the best way for them to get the $200 million that they need…

Every decade and/or era in baseball has these guys – great players and/or stories that most baseball fans don’t know.

I’ve said this about basebal in the past, and I still feel that’s true: Everything there is to the game of baseball, and I use “everything” in the purest definition of the word, has a quicksand nature to it. Just when you believe you’ve made some progress digging into it, along comes the realization that there’s just as much still out there as when you first started.

From a baseball fan perspective, I totally get it. Why not go for the total reboot when they switch leagues? However, if I were a fan of the team, I think I would be upset over this possible change. They’ve been called the Astros for the last 47 years. That’s a lifetime for some fans. Granted, it’s not the greatest name ever for a baseball team. But, it’s been their name for almost a half-century. It’s hard to sweep that under the rug.

Need a baseball fix to carry you over from Super Bowl madness to the start of Spring Training? Or, are you always up for checking out a unique baseball book? In either case, I recommend The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2012.

First, this year’s edition is much more “handy” as they’ve gone from a “8 1/2 x 11” inch format to a “7 x 9” inch format. This makes the book much more portable. But, more so, the book is full of commentary, analysis and historical features.

To be candid, some of the sabermetric stuff in the book is over my head. (O.K., most of it is over my head.) But, that’s more of a reflection on me than the authors. Yet, you don’t need to understand the math – at least I don’t – to enjoy what’s in there. (I’m fine with leaving the egg-head confirmation and debate tasks to those who are more into that type of metric-exercise.)

For example, in Michael A. Humphreys’ “Simple Fielding Runs Estimates” feature, in the sidebars, it lists the “Defensive Regression Analysis” (DRA) all-time leaders for each position. And, I don’t need to know how the math works on these to appreciate the fact that Paul Blair and Gary Pettis are listed as the 4th and 5th best center fielders, respectively, after Andruw Jones, Willie Mays and Tris Speaker. I saw Blair and Pettis and it’s great to see them get their due in a study. (Ditto seeing Roy White as the 4th best left fielder – per DRA – after Rickey Henderson, Willie Wilson and Barry Bonds.)

Also, in Max Marchi’s “People Will Most Definitely Come” study, I don’t need to waste time trying to follow that the “adjusted R-squared is a statistical coefficient measuring the proportion of variability accounted for by the model” to enjoy that the results tell us that, from 1947, more people attended games when Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax, Tom Seaver or Vida Blue were pitching.

There’s something for every baseball fan in The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2012. For the hardcore sabermetric crowd, there’s more than enough math in there to give their minds a rush. And, for those who just enjoy baseball commentary and or interesting revelations on baseball history, that’s there as well.

Sean Forman will be on Clubhouse Confidential on the MLB Network. He is taping this afternoon and is pretty sure it will be broadcast tonight. The show typically airs 5:30pm and 7:30pm ET. Check it out!

Well, I can now share that I still love this book! As in the past, it contains the following along with the career stats of every current big league player:

The Fielding Bible Awards

Runs Saved and Plus/Minus Leaders

Pitcher Projections

Hitter Projections

Baserunning Analysis

Manufactured Runs

Team Efficiency Summary

Player Win-Shares

2011 Leader Boards

Manager’s Records

Instant Replay Records

Hall of Fame Monitor

However, new, this year, it also includes a (1) Pitch Repertoire Section detailing pitch type breakdowns for all pitchers in baseball and (2) Rotation vs. Bullpen team charts showcasing the strengths and weaknesses of each team’s pitching staff.

My favorite part of having this book? Thumbing through the pages and landing, at random, at a player’s career stats or some leader board or another part of the book. And, then using what you find to get your baseball thoughts going – where you then look up something else that the data forces into your head…and you keep doing it over and over from there. You can get lost for an hour, easy, each day, doing that with The Bill James Handbook 2012. It’s a wonderful off-season baseball fan companion. And, it’s handy to refer to during the season too.